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3/23/09
New
Mike Stern DVD
Dave appears on the new
Mike Stern Band DVD, along with Mike Stern (guitar),
Tom Kennedy (bass), and Bob Franceschini (sax).
Click
here to view a promo video, and click
here to purchase at Amazon.com.
2/14/09
Dave
to Teach at August Drum Fantasy Camp
Dave will once again
teach at the Drum Fantasy Camp, August
15-19, 2009, at the beautiful Hyatt hotel in
Cleveland, Ohio. This will be Dave's third year at
the camp, and he will be joined by Steve Smith,
Dafnis Prieto, and several other world-class
drummers (to be announced)!
The camp will feature
intimate master classes (up to 15 attendees per
class), jams with world-class musicians, and a
concert featuring the instructors! Plus, it's just a
great time - and you get to work with each
instructor!
Dave has updated his
studio page with new photos and a video! Click here to check it out
and learn how you can get Dave on your next
recording as a drummer and/or a producer.
1/21/09
2009 NAMM Show
NAMM, the trade association of the international
music products industry, just wrapped up its 2009
Winter show. At show close, NAMM reported 85,799
registrants.
Dave attended the show on Saturday,
taking in the many sites and sounds and also signing
autographs at Sabian, Yamaha, and Vic Firth. He also
spent time in the Remo booth.
11.13.08
Yamaha Dave Weckl Tour Features the New Phoenix Ultimate Kit
Yamaha has announced November tour dates in Brighton, Glasgow and Manchester for Dave's UK introduction of the PHX-PHOENIX kit. Billed by Yamaha as the ultimate drum kit, it's the company's best sounding kit ever and at over £5000, it's also the most expensive. The Phoenix is the result of more than five years of extensive research at Yamaha's unique new drum laboratory in Japan.
Dave, together with a leading group of some of the world's most respected drum artists, has been working alongside Yamaha's top sound engineers and drum technicians on the Phoenix since it was first conceived in 2003.
Yamaha's Gavin Thomas says "This is the UK launch of a no-compromise drum kit we are incredibly proud of, we have exploited every ounce of Yamaha's 40 year experience and skills in producing this kit. We have completely redesigned and improved all the elements. Our goal was to give players ultimate control over tone, dynamics, resonance and sustain."
So sophisticated and complex is the Phoenix production process that the highly skilled team of just three technical craftsmen are only able to handcraft a maximum 20 kits a year destined for the UK market.
Says Dave about the Phoenix line: "Yamaha drums have always set a very high standard where everything from the sound of the drums to the hardware has been in a class of their own. I've have played Yamaha Drums for 25 years and always been very happy, however the all-new Phoenix hybrid shells are something completely different, and to be honest, are a major step up from anything I've heard from ANY drum. There is more high-end, more low-end, and much more depth and volume. I honestly haven't been this excited about a drum set for a long time. This is a serious advancement in the world of drums and I would encourage all drummers to come along to the UK shows - they won't believe their ears!"
Click here to listen to an interview with Dave, where he talks about the current Mike Stern tour and the new Yamaha Phoenix drums he's playing!
10.22.08
New
Stern DVD
Dave recently mixed a
new DVD live with the Stern band in Paris last May,
to be released sometime in the next few months! Keep
an eye out!
9.25.08
Sabian
Clinic Tour Story and Photos
Dave recently completed
four Sabian clinic tour dates. Sabian's Greg Zeller
wrote up a terrific story about the clinics and got
some great photos.
Click
here to read Greg's story on the Sabian
site...
8-27-08
Dave
wraps up appearance at 2008 Drum Fantasy Camp
Dave Weckl
finished almost a week of teaching and performing at
the 2008 Drum Fantasy Camp today. Dave joined
instructors Steve Smith, Horacio Hernandez,
Tony Royster, Jr., Jamey Haddad,
Ganesh Kumar, and Dave Brewer for master
classes with more than 80 attendees at the Hyatt
Regency hotel in Cleveland, Ohio. Dave also
performed with guitarist Oz Noy and bassist
Will Lee. Steve Smith performed with his
band, Vital Information, with guest
appearances by Jamey Haddad (percussion) and Ganesh
Kumar (Kanjira).
Click
here to view two years of photos from this
incredible event.
3-15-08
Dave to
appear at 2008 Drum Fantasy Camp
Dave Weckl will
join Steve Smith, Horacio Hernandez,
Tony Royster, Jr., Jamey Haddad, and more
world-class instructors at drumFantasy.08:
August 23-27 at the Hyatt Regency hotel
in Cleveland, Ohio.
Space is limited. Click
here to open the Drum Fantasy Camp
Web site in a new window.
11-3-07
PASIC
2007
Flying straight in
from Europe after touring with Jeff Lorber's band,
Dave arrived in Columbus, Ohio, for PASIC 2007
ready to go. More than 700 people attended Dave's
clinic at the Hyatt Grand Ballroom, which was sponsored by
Sabian, Yamaha, Vic Firth, Remo,
and Shure.
During the 50-minute
presentation, Dave talked about taking a musical
approach to drumming.
"There aren't too
many gigs for drum soloists out there," Dave
said to the standing-room only crowd. "Be musical,"
he added, "because if you want to get called back,
you need to please the band leader first."
Dave also stressed
the importance of developing independence, but not
to build flashy chops. He showed how simple
hand/foot independence exercises can make fills more
musical. In one example, he showed how just maintaining
a quarter-note or eighth-note "pulse" with the hi-hat can preserve the groove
during a fill. Dave then got
the audience involved by having them clap an ostinato while he soloed over it.
The audience was
electric and the clinic ended with a standing
ovation. Dave then ran over to the Sabian booth to
sign autographs for an hour!
Elektric
Band and Downright Upright Tour Dates Announced
November is a busy month
for Dave! He'll be touring with with Brian
Bromberg’s Downright Upright All-Stars
featuring: Randy Brecker, Mitchel Forman,
Gary Meek, and Dave.
Then, in December,
Dave will hook up with the Mike Stern Band
before joining the Chick Corea Elektric Band
(with Victor Wooten on bass!) in Oakland, Los
Angeles, and New York.
The first-ever Drum
Fantasy Camp wrapped up on August 21, 2007. 109
attendees from all over the United States and all
over the world, including Italy, Germany, England,
Colombia, and Mexico, came together for a long
weekend of clinics, master classes, concerts, and
open jams. They joined instructors Dave Weckl,
Steve Smith, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez,
and Jason Bittner, plus two incredible
teachers from The Collective: Jason Gianni
and Pat Petrillo.
Master classes were
scheduled to run for 2 1/2 hours, but this wasn't
enough for Dave. His classes typcially ran an hour
longer to make sure each camper received personal
instruction!
Click
here to open the camp's MySpace page
with slideshows and information on registering for
the 2008 camp!
04-17-07
Dave to
teach/perform at drum fantasy camp!
Ever dream of spending a
weekend with Dave? Watching, learning, playing?
Now's your chance! Dave will join Steve Smith,
Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, and another BIG-TIME
drummer at drumFantasy.07.
Dave has a new clip from
the Bill Evans shows, featuring a drum solo on
"Celtic Junction." Also, Dave has new videos posted
from various shows throughout his career.
Dave will join
saxophonist Bill Evans and his Soulgrass "Special
Edition" band at the Blue Note in New York
from January 23-28, 2007. In edition to Evans, the
band will feature Richard Bona (bass), Sam Bush
(mandolin), Tony Trischka (banjo), and Christian
Howes (fiddle).
Click
here to learn more and book your reservation
on the Blue Note site.
Dave now has a
MySpace page at:
www.myspace.com/daveweckl .Check it out! It
features photos, music, and great video clips! If
you're a MySpace user, don't forget to sign
up as Dave's friend.
No new plans for the
Dave Weckl Band right now, but keep an eye
out on the MySpace page for some live clips from
their recent tour! Meanwhile, Dave will be appearing
with Brian Bromberg (bass), Jeff Lorber (piano),
Randy Brecker (trumpet), and Gary Meek (saxophones)
in Annapolis, MD, on March 14, 2007.
Dave is as busy as
ever doing studio work at "The Garage." More news to
come, including a new "Behind the Kit" newsletter
later this month.
07-19-06
Dave in
the Studio
Dave has been pretty
busy in the studio recently. He tracked for Jeff
Lorber's new record, which is being produced by
drumming legend Bobby Colomby of Blood, Sweat and
Tears fame. Dave and Bobby had a great time
working together - as Dave said: "nothing like
having a drummer as a
producer! They GET it!" More news about this release
coming soon.
Some other current/recent projects:
- Dave is playing on,
co-producing and mixing a CD for guitarist/composer
Stuart Redd, which will have a lot of great players
on it - Eric Marienthal, Tom Kennedy, Jay Oliver,
Ric Fierabracci, Gary Meek, and Ramon Yslas
(percussion) to name a few.
- Dave is mixing an
Afro-Cuban project with Raul Pineda on drums - great
music with many great Cuban musicians and Bob
Mintzer on sax.
- Dave recently played
on a Santana tribute record, produced by guitarist
Jeff Richman, with Abe Loborial on bass, Luis Conte
on percussion, Peter Wolf on keys and a whole SLEW
of guitarists!
07-18-06
New
Videos - Dave with Brian Bromberg...
Earlier in July,
Dave joined
Brian Bromberg (bass), Jeff Lorber (piano), Gary
Meek (sax) and Rick Braun (trumpet) for several shows in
Japan. The band grooved with amazing chemistry and had a great
time together. Click here
to open the audio/video page.
07-15-06
DWB
Lineup Change Announced
Jay Oliver
(keyboards), a longtime friend and collaborator with
Dave, has agreed to rejoin the Dave Weckl Band
for North American tour dates this Fall.
Oliver will replace Steve Weingart, who replaced
Oliver in 2000 prior to the DWB's
"Transition" record. Weingart will be pursuing other
projects, including solo work and involvement in El
Grupo, his band with Steve Lukather, Oscar Cartaya,
and Joey Heredia.
Oliver, who played and collaborated on writing and
production of Dave's first three solo records and two
Dave Weckl Band albums, will begin playing with the
band on August 18, 2006, at a jazz festival in St.
Joseph, MO. Preliminary plans call for Oliver to
remain with the band through the conclusion of the
East Coast portion of the tour, September 9-24.
"I am very excited to once again be working with Jay
Oliver, " Weckl said. "DWB fans can
look forward to hearing a wide range of the band's
music live this Fall - including some new material."
This will mark
the first time in six years that Jay and Dave have
taken the stage together. Jay will be using
cutting-edge new gear from Yamaha, and fans around
the world will be very interested in the new sound
of the band. Both Weckl & Oliver are excited to
bring in new material as well as reinvent some of
the old songs they became famous for.
Of Weingart's contributions to the band, Weckl said
"Steve has contributed to the band in so many
ways over the past six years. I am very happy for
him and the
many exciting projects he will be pursuing."
07-15-06
2006
Tour Dates Updated
Dave has been
playing with a wide range of artists recently - in
the U.S. and Japan. Click here
to open the tour page for the latest updates on
these dates and DWB Fall shows.
